Romantic Theologian: Imagination And Religion In Tolkien's Theory Of Story

J.R.R. Tolkien was a famous scholar and writer of 20th Century. He invented a legendarium, which has a background called Arda and contains The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so that he influenced fantasy literature a lot.Tolkien's thought was deeply influenced by religion and imaginative literature, which effected him to create his theory of Story to echo his composition. For now there is few research on Tolkien's theory of Story or the religious and imaginative elements in Tolkien's thought, this thesis explores imagination and religion in Tolkien's theory of Story.The whole thesis is composed of five chapters: the first chapter is a summary of the western studies of Tolkien. The second chapter concentrates on Tolkien's company with other T.C.B.S.s and Inklings to illustrate how Tolkien is theological about friendship and the invention of imaginative literature. The third chapter analyses Tolkien's view of myth and religious truth, which was influenced by Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy and Owen Barfield's linguistic philosophy. Sub-creation is a term that has a religious meaning, the forth chapter divides sub-creation in the Primary World and sub-creation in the Secondary World, the one reflects the freedom of sub-creator, the other is the misusage of Free Will. The fifth chapter analyses eucatastrophe, which is the ending of a fairy-story, and compares it with Ragnarok in Norse myth to explore the paganish hue that comes from imaginative literature.